Logistics & Supply Chain Consulting Electronics Sector

Characteristics and particularities
Industry insight

Besides the automotive industry and mechanical engineering, the manufacturing sector for industrial goods and electronics is an important contributor to the health of the national economy in Germany. The entire supply chain needs to display high efficiency and flexibility in order to accommodate the call for increasingly short delivery times, the rising trend toward product customisation and the fierce global competition. Companies must seek to uphold operational excellence in production and logistics in order to successfully assert their position over the competition. The immense growth that most companies have experienced in these industrial segments over recent years has inevitably focused attention on the expansion of capacities and the alignment of company processes. This pleasing development is likely to continue, whereby greater attention should be invested in sustainability and efficiency.

Challenges to
ensure competitiveness

Specific framework conditions and special challenges that are characteristic of industrial production and electronics sectors:

Implementation of Industry 4.0 trends and digitisation approaches
Progressive globalisation of production and the value chains
Consistent SCM strategies and processes: Distribution, production, logistics, procurement, order fulfilment
Implementation of lean supply chain management
Exploitation of global procurement channels (global sourcing)
Greater flexibility through the introduction of lean production methods and productivity enhancement, especially in mass manufacturing
Assurance of high material availability at acceptable inventory cost to ensure deliverability
Reduction in throughput times and adherence to obligatory delivery schedules
Implementation of smart approaches in production planning and control, for instance the introduction of pull control or MES and ERP systems
Delayed variant development through clear postponement strategies
Commodity procurement in case of long delivery times and scarce capacities among suppliers
Ongoing relocation of in-house value added shares to more cost-efficient international production locations in order to protect competitiveness

ebp-consulting
Selected consulting focuses

End-to-end supply chain optimisation
Lean supply chain management
Optimisation of distribution networks
Alignment of the production footprint
Total landed cost optimisation
Supplier relationship management
Lean production and lean logistics
Logistical structures for warehousing and order picking
Warehouse re-planning
Material flow and plant structures
Line-side presentation concepts
Logistics for Industry 4.0
Factory planning
Outsourcing of logistics, tenders for service providers
Tool-based inventory optimisation
Production planning and control
Sales & operations planning (S&OP), integrated planning and control
Intelligent scheduling procedures
IT applications for SCM and ERP

Project examples
Customer benefits through industry expertise

A selection from our extensive range of products.

Design of a shuttle warehouse and production logistics for a large company in the electrical engineering and electronics sector:

Development of an innovative intralogistics concept with Logistics 4.0 approaches for a production location in eastern Europe.

Design and complete planning of an innovative shuttle warehouse. Selection of possible technology providers and contracting proposals for a manufacturer.

Development and full planning of supply, assembly and parts manufacturing by means of fully automatic transport resources.
Development of new SCM strategies and reorganisation of distribution for a manufacturer of industrial gases:

Development of new SCM approaches for the end-to-end supply chain in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Optimisation of the distribution network, consisting of central and regional warehouses, as well as transfer stations/hubs, including the requisite transport concepts.

Reorganisation of order processing, the line-side presentation and replenishment strategy, planning and control processes, as well as the SCM ownership.
Material flow and inventory optimisation for a market leader in fastening technology:

Material flow optimisation at several European locations through the application of value stream analysis and the deployment of lean production methods. Optimisation of intralogistics according to the line back principle, i.e. material line-side presentation, tugger train transport and order picking (supermarket function) in the warehouse to meet the needs of assembly.

Reduction in material inventories through the adaptation of scheduling principles to suit the individual article categories with the specific turnover/demand patterns. Use of a proprietary ebp analysis and optimisation tool (big data analytics).